Stay-feed regulator for wire-fence-fabric machines.



W. HERMAN.

STAY FEED REGULATOR FOR WIRE FENCE FABRIC MACHINES.

APPLICATION mu) JULY 5.49:1.

1,151,784. Patented Aug. 31,1915.

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W. HERMAN. STAY FEED REGULATOR FOR WIRE FENCE FABRIC MACHINES.

' APPLICATION FILED JULY 5. 1911.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915.v

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STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM HERMAN, OF SOUTH BARTONVILLE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO KEYSTONE STEEL & WIRE COMPANY, OF SOUTH BARTONVILLE, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

STAY-FEED REGULATOR FOR WIRE-FENOE-FABRIC MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM I'IERMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Bartonville, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stay-Feed Regulators for IVire- Fence- Fabric Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to wire working machines, and particularly to that type wherein a feed is provided for projecting a wire endwise, and the object of this invention is to improve the feed of such wire working machines, by providing mechanism for regulating such feed.

A further objectof the invention is to improve the wire feeding mechanism in wire working machines, particularly that type of machine used for the manufacture of wire fence fabrics, wherein a stay or picket wire feed is employed, which projects such wire endwise and across or in proximity to the wire connecting mechanisms.

The invention has for a further object, mechanism associated or employed in connection with the stay feed wire mechanism of wire working machines; such mechanism serving as a stay feed wire regulator, and when operating, engages with such stay feed wire to regulate its length of feed, whereby a predetermined length of stay will be severed from such stay feed wire, and thereby obviate any unnecessary waste of such stay feed wire, producing at all times, astay wire of uniform length.

I11 the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, I have shown my improvements in stay feed regulators applied to one form of wire working machine, wherein a fence fabric is adapted to be made, comprising a plurality of longitudinal running or strand wires, and a plurality of suitably spaced stay or' picket wires, extending transversely of such running or strand wires; said stay or picket wires united to the intermediate running or strand wires by means of a suitable/tie or lock, and the ends of such stay or picket wire being preferably wrapped or coiled about the margin wires.

Figure 1 is a plan view of so much of a wire working machine as is deemed neces- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 5, 1911.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

Serial No. 637,036.

sary to show the application of my improvements in stay feed regulators thereon, and Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, showing said wire working machine and stay feed regulator applied thereto, the stay feed wire shown in the act of being fed across the machine andjust prior to the operation of said stay feed regulator. Fig. 3 is a detail view-in section of certain parts of the stay feed-regulating means.

In the majority, if not all, of wire fabricating machines, wherein mechanism is employed for feeding endwise a stay feed wire, diiliculty is encountered in producing a sufliciently rapid stay feed wire mechanism, while at the same time regulating the same under all conditions so that the stay wire is fed of uniform length, without the necessity of cutting and wasting a portion of such wire for the purpose of producing such uniform stay length. I

In machines of the type mentioned, the stay feed wire is usually projected at a very rapid speed and the stay lengths severed and said stays attached in keeping with such rapid feed of the stay feed wire. Naturally, with such rapid feed of the stay feed wire, great momentum is created which will carry the free end of the stay approximately, if not at all times, beyond the point desired for producing the uniform length of stay, making it necessary, when severing the stay wire from the stay feed wire, to cut oil the surplus end at the free end of such wire, whereby, when the stay is attached to the strand wires and its ends coiled or wrapped about the margin wires, there will be no projecting ends.

It is obvious that no matter what amount of surplus wire is severed from each stay or stay feed wire, that it means considerable waste of wire during a seasons run of a machine, and that the more machines, the more waste, and such waste amounts in the long run of a machine, to a considerable loss to the manufacturer in dollars and cents. It is to obviate this unnecessary waste of wire and unnecessary loss in money, that I have adapted my invention, stay feed regulators, to wire working machines, and the same, which has been put into practice, has proven a very desirable improvement to wire working machines.

mechanism and wire connecting mechanismsfor uniting stay wires to the longitudinal strand wires constituting the fabric.

2 and 3 designate a pair of feed wheels having preferably, friction gripping faces for feeding in and across the machine,-a stay feed wire A from which are severed sta s or pickets B, see Fig. 2. The feed wheel 2 is a continuously rotated wheel, operated by suitable mechanism, and 3 is an intermittently rotated wheel intended to be operated when brought into frictional engagement with the wire between said wheel and Wheel 2. The wheel 3 is carried by an oscillatory arm 4, pivoted at 5, and said arm 4 with the wheel 3 are moved toward the wheel 2 through the engagement of the member 6 with the free end of the arm 4, said member 6 carried by a rocking shaft 7 suitably actuated through connection with the cam 8 on the cam shaft 9, see Fig. 2.

1 The movement of the arm 4 and the operation of, the wheel 3 with the wheel 2 are determined by the length of the stay wire which is intended to be severed from the stay feed wire A. In other words, if there are only four running wires in a fabric, such as the drawings show, the length of the stay would be considerably shorter than if there were tenrunning wires, or any greater numher than four. And if more than four, it will be understood that the operation of the wheel 3 with the wheel 2, must necessarily continue long enough to produce a stay wire which will extend across all of the running wires. How this is determined, and what means is employed is immaterial so long as the feed of the stay feed wire is intermittent and the feed wheels grip and release the wire at predetermined intervals. As soon as the cam 8 moves to a position so that the wheel 3 may he released, the spring 10operates to move the arm 4 and the wheel 3 out of operative relation with the wheel2. The stay feed wire A passes through the straightening rolls 11, between the feed wheels 2 and 3 and across the machine in .D; also end coilers 13 for wrapping or coiling the opposite ends of the stays around the marginal or selvage wires E.

terial.

After the stay feed wire has been project-ed across the machine by the operatlon of the feed wheels 2 and 3, such feed wheels are released from frictional engagement with the stay feed wire, stopping the movement of such wire, and at that moment, depressors and cutters are brought into operation, for first severing a stay or picket wire length B from the stay feed wire A, and depressing the ends of said stay or picket down on to the coilers into position for the coilingpins 13 to engage and wrap or coil said ends of the stay around the marginal or selvage wires E. The depressors and cutters are referred to generally as 14:, see Fig. 1, which are fulcrumed at 15, and to said depressors and cutters 14 are attached bars 16, which in turn are connected with members 17 carried by a rock shaft 18. The rock shaft 18 is operated by a suitable means and at predetermined intervals, for actuating the depressors and cutters, as will be inferred, and said rock shaft is timed to move said depressors and cutters immediately after the projection of a stay length, and at the moment when it is desired to sever such stay length from the stay feed wire, and to depress the same into position for wrapping the ends of the stay around the marginal wires. The coilers and staple forming and connecting mechanisms are intended to be operated simultaneously, although the staple forming feature of the connecting mechanisms may precede slightly the operation of the coilers so as to sever and feed a. complete staple to a position to connect the stay with the intermediate strand wires as shown in Fig. 2.

The character ofthe depressors and cutters is immaterial and the means for oper ating the same, and while in the present machine there are shown two depressors with which are associated suitable cutters, referred to' generally as 141., and carried adjacent the coilers, it is to be understood (-referring to Fig. 1) that it is not altogether necessary to provide the depressor 14: on the right hand side of the figure, with a cutter as it is intended that the said feed regulator will obviate the use of the same, but the depressor 14:, shown at the left of the figure should be provided with a cutter, so as to sever the stay length from the stay feed wire; however, the cutter mayor may not form a part of such depressor.

Vere the machine shown in the drawings, not provided with the stay feed regulator, which I am about to describe, both depressors 14 should have a cutter, for the reason that although the cam 8 is only intended to move the feed wheel 3 in position for action for a predetermined period and for the purpose of projecting a predetermined length of stay, the momentum of the stay feed wire A through the rapid movement of such wire, would carry the free or right hand end of said stay feed wire beyond the right hand coiler 13 and the right hand marginal wire E, see Fig. 2, making it necessary not only to sever a stay length 13 from the stay feed wire A, but also sever any surplus wire on the free end of the stay feed wire, that the stay severed from .the stay feed wire may be of a predetermined length, having only suilicient wire at the ends of the stay to be wrapped around the marginal or selvage wires, leaving no projections.

The stay feed regulator, to which reference has been made, and which I employ in connection with the stay feed mechanism for producing stays of uniform and equal lengths, comprises a plunger bar 19, operating in the combined wire and plunger guide 20, said guide having a wire opening 21 therein, provided with the enlarged inlet opening 22. The plunger bar 19 has an adjustable connection with the head 22, preferably by making a threaded connection as at 22 between said bar and said head and such head 22 is pivotally connected to an arm 23, which in turn has a pivotal connection with the lever 24, fulcrumed at 25. Said lever 24 extends down through and operates in the opening 26 in the table 1, and on the lower end of said lever is carried a roller 27, adapted to ride against the irregular or sinuous surface 28 of a cam 29, car ried on and operated by the cam shaft 9. A spring 30 secured to the table 1 and engaging the lever 24, operates to hold the plunger bar 19 in a retracted position. This is the position in which the parts are shown in the figures, particularly Fig. 2, and is the normal position of such parts. When the plunger bar 19 is in this position, the said feed wire is projected across the machine, and the free end of such stay feed wire, when it reaches the guide 20, enters the wire opening 21 therein through the enlarged opening 22. The momentum of the wire may carry it slightly within the wire groove or the full length thereof, practice having determined the length of such groove, and immediately upon the feed wheel 3 being released from frictional engagement with the stay feed wire A, the cam surface 28 of the cam 29 has reached a point in its engagement with the roller 27, where the plunger bar 19 has been shot forward, engaging the free end of the stay feed wire, moving it backward to a position where it is sufliciently across the right hand marginal or selvage wire E, so that enough of the end of the wire is left to form a coil or wrap, to be directed around the marginal or selvage wire by the coiling pin 13. Following the movement of the plunger bar 19, shoving the stay feed wire backward, the cutter for severing the stay length B from the stay feed wire A, is brought into operation, and the spring 30 acts to retract the plunger bar 19, moving it to' that position shown in the figures, particularly Fig. 2.

The plunger bar 19 has been described as having an adjustable connection with a head 22. This adjustment is provided to insure that the plunger bar 19 will not only be long enough to move the length of the guide 20, but that it may be shortened if such shortening ever becomes necessary.

It is obvious that with the use of the wire retractor or pusher bar, such as the plunger, that the stay wire may always be fed of uniform length and without waste.

What I claim is 1. A wire fabric machine, including means for projecting stay-feed wires and a stayfeed regulator for engaging the free end of said wire to move it backward to a desired position in the fabric.

2. In a wire fabricating machine, in combination with wire connecting mechanisms, an intermittent stay wire feed for projecting a stay feed wire endwisc across said mechanisms, means for severing a stay length from said stay wire, and a retractable device for said wire adapted to operate thereupon, after the severance of said stay length.

3. A wire retractable device for the stay wire of fabricating machines, comprising a guide for the wire, a reciprocating member movable in the guide and adapted to engage the wire, and means for operating said memher.

4. A wire retractable device for the stay wire of fabricating machines, comprising a guide for the wire, a reciprocating member movable in the guide and adapted to engage the wire, and means for intermittently projecting said member through the guide.

5. A wire retractable device for the stay wire of fabricating machines, comprising a guide for the wire, a member movable in the guide adapted to engage the wire, a lever connected with said member, and a cam for operating the lever to move the member.

6. In a wire fabricating machine, the combination of a plurality of spaced wire connecting mechanisms, a wire feed at one side of said mechanisms for projecting a stay wire endwise across and in proximity to said connecting mechanisms, and a stay pusher at the other side of said connecting mechanisms, adapted to drive said stay wire backward.

7. In a wire fabricating machine, the combination of a plurality of spaced wire connecting mechanisms, a bed-plate supporting said mechanisms, a wire feed at one side of said mechanisms for projecting a stay wire endwise across and in proximity to said connecting mechanisms, a stay pusher at the other side of said connecting mechanisms, a lever connected with said pusher and extending down through an opening in the bed, a shaft, and a cam on said shaft for operating said lever.

8. In a wire working machine, and in combination with a wire feeding mechanism, a guide for the wire,a plunger operable in the guide, a head with which said plunger has adjustable connection, an arm with which the head has a pivotal connection, a lever connected with said arm, and means for operating said lever. V

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM HERMAN.

Witnesses JEANNETTE M. ANDERSON, CHAS. W. LA Pon'rn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

